A.M. ATL: Seoul of the South

Morning, y’all! I locked Tyler back in his cage and put a blanket over it. He won’t bother you anymore — at least until I take another day off.

Let’s get to it.

MORE HYUNDAI RAID COMPLICATIONS

Credit: Ahn Young-joon/AP

Credit: Ahn Young-joon/AP

Last week’s ICE raid on a Hyundai electric vehicle construction site near Savannah has brought together potentially dissonant political objectives for Georgia’s leaders.

The detention of some 300 Korean workers among 475 during the operation strained business relations between South Korea and the U.S. at a time when business-savvy governors like Brian Kemp are courting more international investments.
Hyundai wants to invest $26 billion in the United States through 2028, including the electric vehicle plant in Ellabel and a $5 billion battery project in Cartersville.
That’s led Kemp to an interesting balancing act between his tough-on-immigration policies and his courtship of foreign investments.

🔎 READ MORE: What Kemp says about the situation

The incident also highlights difficulties Korean firms often face in getting timely visas for workers. Delays and complications keep foreign employees with necessary technical skills from getting big ventures like the Hyundai plant off the ground.

We really want the U.S. Southeast manufacturing boom to happen. Hopefully the U.S.-Korea trade relationship doesn't become a hurdle.

- Jae Kim, president of the Southeast U.S. Korean Chamber of Commerce, in a July interview with the AJC

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RICO NO MORE?

Credit: John Spink/AJC

A Fulton County judge plans to dismiss racketeering and arson charges against dozens of activists who protested Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center during its cantankerous construction period.

Attorney General Chris Carr’s office brought the charges against 61 people in 2023, claiming they violated the state’s RICO Act along with scattered additional charges of domestic terrorism, arson and the like.
Judge Kevin Farmer says he doesn’t think Carr’s office has the authority to bring such charges.
We’ll keep an ear to the ground on this one. If the charges are dropped, it would be a big twist in a yearslong struggle, and quite a blow to Carr.

❓What is racketeering, anyway? Racketeering is a type of organized crime perpetrated through fraudulent schemes or scams. (Like, “What a racket!”)

The U.S. has a broad Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which makes such activities a felony. Georgia has its own state RICO Act, which is actually more strict than the federal one.

INMATE ON THE RUN

Until a few days ago, Stacy Huggins was serving a life sentence at the Augusta Transitional Center killing a man in 1990. Now he’s, well, not.

Huggins reported to his work release program on Sept. 4, but then disappeared, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said. They’re searching for him alongside the Georgia Department of Corrections.

He was last seen in Hephzibah near Augusta, about two and a half hours east of Atlanta.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

💉 RFK Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report calls for more investigation into links between vaccines and autism, a theory medical experts and health organizations have repeatedly and overwhelmingly refuted.

⚡ U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is introducing the American Energy Security Act, a bipartisan legislation that will help communities replace or upgrade their aging natural gas pipelines.

✈️ Leaders at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Delta Air Lines say “difficult decisions” need to be made to keep the airport growing. The AJC’s Emma Hurt moderated a conversation with Delta’s CEO and the airport’s general manager to discuss what’s next.

💰 Rainforest, an Atlanta-based financial tech startup, raised a staggering $29 million in a matter of weeks and a total of $58 million in the last two years.

LAW IS ART, DARLING

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

If you’ve never paced around your bedroom pretending to be a lawyer arguing a bombshell case, stop lying. Being a foot soldier for Lady Justice is dramatic work, and former Hollywood character actor and director Judson Vaughn is here to help.

A handful of Atlanta lawyers joined the film expert for a workshop to hone their body language and communication skills. It’s more than acting, though. Vaughn’s approach is based in neuroscience and revolves around the minute window of time when you win or lose someone’s trust.

Oh, and there’s ketchup involved. It’s today’s must-read.

NEWS BITES

Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup has an ultrathin model

Any thinner and we’ll be swiping on graham crackers.

Cracker Barrel suspends restaurant remodel plans after logo ballyhoo

Big win for fans of haunted antique Coca-Cola signs.

How to turn your home into the neighborhood hangout spot

I need whatever the opposite of this is. “How to be the house kids whisper about at Halloween” or something.

Players keep spitting on each other during football, soccer matches

One incident started when Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott accidentally spat on Jalen Carter of the Philadelphia Eagles, who returned the favor. Guess you could say it was .................. spit for spat.

ON THIS DATE

Sept. 10, 1969

Credit: AJC

From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Georgia State gains status of university. Georgia gained its first state university since the 18th century Wednesday when the Board of Regents changed the name of Atlanta’s Georgia State College to Georgia State University. University System Chancellor George L. Simpson Jr. said the 12,500-student institution requires a broader base to “meet the expanding complexity of the city’s needs.”

Happy Birthday, Georgia State University!

ONE MORE THING

I finally wandered the Kim Chong Hak: Painter of Seoraksan exhibit at the High Museum of Art and it is really fantastic. I love giant, immersive works, and Kim’s appreciation of nature, combined with a colorful and folk-inspired sense of abstraction, invites one to stand and ponder.

Also, a lot of his paintings have weird little guys hidden in them. I love art with weird little guys.

Credit: AJ Willingham

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.

Until next time.

About the Author

Veteran 11Alive cops reporter Kevin Rowson has died at age 72

Kevin Rowson, a dogged cops reporter for Atlanta's 11Alive for 22 years before taking a buyout in 2016, died Saturday, according to his wife, Karen.

South Korean nationals detained in Georgia’s Hyundai raid to be released

Only "some administrative procedures remain" before the South Korean nationals arrested Thursday in Georgia will be released, according to a South Korean official.